When I was trying to make this pattern I thought to myself, “the first thing I’m gonna do is comment on how rancid this pattern is!” You’re better off drafting it yourself, this pattern is outrageous, 4 inches too short in the front so it didn’t even approach my nips, and I’m a short girl! And 7 inches to short in the back! Plus having a separate piece for the crotch is weird.
I can’t even begin to think how they got that swimsuit in the picture from this pattern.
I suppose you get what you pay for but they either need to fix this pattern or take it down so no one else will accidently wander into this bull.

So – I just started making a mock-up of this before jumping in with real fabric, and right out of the gate, it’s way too short in the front. I’m 5’ 4" and the front (under the bodice section) stops about 2 inches under my breasts. I really don’t want the bodice to drag once I sew it on or have to worry about accidentally flashing people when I make the real one so I am going to try lengthening the pattern. A couple quick questions for those who have made this already – how much fabric did you buy, and do you think it’s worth lining the whole front piece?

So I started this project two months ago for Spring Break, then it rained the whole time, so I put it aside in favor of other more pressing projects. :) It was mostly done, I just happened to finish it today. I’ll also preface my fit issues by saying I’m five feet tall and barely 95 pounds, so the fact that I’m finished with it and it still doesn’t fit properly is disheartening, but I’ll know better on my next swimsuit.

Issues I ran into:
1. every swimsuit needs leg elastic so I added that anyway; however, the elastic still flips out if I move normally, so I’m constantly adjusting my bottoms. Maybe it’s because I didn’t get specific swimsuit elastic, but just whatever I had in my sewing room?
2. I like my suits lined and to have cups, but the cups I first tried looked weird. I’ll try some others.
3. Now this may have been wrong, but what I did with the bodice piece was fold it in half. As several others have mentioned, the bust piece would be huge if you gathered up the whole oblong piece! There’s also just no reason for the neckline to have those curves if you’re trying to attach a straight piece to it. Folding it also creates a self-lining to help with issue 2.
4. As several others have mentioned it was WAY too short in the front body. I’m only five feet tall and the empire seam still wants to drag down to my ribs. I tried combating this by first carving out some of the leg line and then even more by cinching the center tab even shorter. It works for a while, but I think this is going to be a “lay by the pool wearing big sunglasses and hat but never actually get wet” suit; I’m terrified if the top gets wet it’ll drag down even further and I’ll flash everyone!
5. The last was simply my not paying attention, but I found a retro-y almost Hawaiian print and thought it would be fun (I’ll post pictures later); anyway, I wasn’t watching where I was laying pieces out until I had it mostly finished that I have a single leaf in a VERY inappropriate place! lol! I guess that’ll teach me to look what I’m doing! :)

For my first swimsuit I wasn’t terribly disappointed or frustrated, but I did take a two month break from it.
I would suggest lengthening it (no matter HOW short you are!), and folding the bust piece in half. Also, mock-ups are great things! :)

Has anyone come up with a corrected pattern, so that someone like me with limited sewing knowledge might have a little more success with this pattern? It seems to have a lot of gaps in the instructions.

Has anyone modified this for plus size? I can’t wear the sizes here, and would love to make this suit for myself. I would appreciate instructions for those of us who are larger, I am using this suit for swimming exercise classes :) My old suit is dead :( and I need a new one. I can never quite find something that makes me happy.

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Indeed the pattern and instructions are terribly lacking! Started making the swimsuit, tried it on halfway through and discovered that it’s designed for short people!! It was 15cms too short for me! And there’s no where on the pattern where it shows that you can shorten or lengthen it. This pattern is not my friend. I’m going to show off my belly instead of hiding it now by making a bikini. Thanks for tainting me

I just made this, and I was very happy with the final result (the outside, at least). But I wouldn’t recommend the pattern to you if you aren’t confident in your ability to brain out the procedure on your own. Unless you’re willing to spend a good deal of time and effort thinking critically about each pattern piece, this will be a disaster!

That being said, once I got all the pieces (more or less) sorted out and wrote up my own notes (the “instructions” are worse than useless), I got the whole thing done in 9 hours, wore it to the beach the next day, and felt fabulous! The retro look is stunning.

My remaining problem is finishing the seams, most especially the legs. What’s the official word on what to use for finishing on swimwear? Also, can any more endowed sewers give me tips on bra cups for this (ie where to shop for good ones, how to install them best)?

this is an awful pattern. I was very disappointed. I buy the burda magazine regularly and have no trouble with the patterns on there and I thought that this would be the same..how wrong I was….This pattern is incomplete, instructions are very vague, it is also disappointing that this pattern is only available in small sizes as this shape looks great on larger women. imho the model is far too unhealthily thin…we have all become to accustomed to seeing extremely thin as normal.

problems with this pattern:
-step 3, the bodice area, no indication which side is which on the pattern, the instructions refer to markings on the pattern, which dont exist, so basically the most visible part of the finished garment requires us to ‘wing it’

-I am half way through sewing this btw and am a very experienced seamstress..I noticed when I logged on (to see if I could find the bodice pattern markings) that there is a back tie, so the long ties have to also be fixed to the bodice..little info on that.

-It would appear to me that this needs swimsuit elastic, especially around the legs, to stop it riding up..(most? all? swimsuits have this)..no mention of this.

-there is an unmarked pattern piece on the pattern, I assume this is the centre front tab..haven’t got that far yet.

This bathing suit is so cute and for a long time I have been meaning to make it. I finally got around to doing it the other day and it was a challenge! I definitely consider myself an intermediate sewer and I was just sitting there like “….what does this thing do…?” Ha. I would say beware to those interested in making it. The directions are terribly vague- no markings on the patter. The front and back came together fine but it was just the bust part. I was thinking maybe it was designed for something more…endowed that me…think a cowl front bathing suit. So bad! ha.

I COMPLETELY fell in love with this and decided to try it…the end product wasn’t all that bad, but I had a lot of trouble with the leg casings. Plus I altered it quite a bit, so that could have been part of it. I had to lengthen the torso quite a bit, because I have a long upper body, but otherwise it turned out pretty good. :)

I’m making this suit now and it seems a few steps were left out?!? Shouldn’t there be elastic at the legs? And I don’t see notches for gathering either… I’m going to wing it and see what happens. It does seem easy and if mine turns out anything close to the models I will be satisfied :D

Can any1 help me out… What’s a serger?
I know when I made garments of stretch fabric we would use a mock safety machine… Is a serger something like that?
Please help…as I’m very interested in sewing up this suit.
Thanks :)

I totally love this bathing suit! It looks great on the model. In response to mcg, you are not the only one who cares about unhealthy models and their impact on the young girls in society. I think you are wrong though about this model. She looks quite healthy and athlethic in my opinion. If they used larger models people would probably complain about them being “fat”.

I too was wondering what the size chart correlated to. How does it compare to Burda size chart? And do I have to make any changes such as lengthen the body or should I just cut it out based on the size?

im making this right now, and having extreme difficulties! i have NEVER had so much trouble decifering a pattern in my life. i was so excited to make this suit, and i leave for vacation this weekend and wanted to have it then! there are no markings or “notches” marking where the bodice part should be gathered at the sides, where it should be placed, or what side is which. also, i dont see a pattern piece for the back ties like in the photos. the instructions really should have illustrations to make up for the fact that nothing on the pattern pieces makes sense. im so disappointed in this pattern, and would like to see the burdastyle team please correct it!

Love it! Can’t wait to sew it! But I am wondering if I am the only person out there disturbed by the emaciated look of this and other models. Seriously, I think I can make out some of her internal organs. This just promotes all the wrong things and does not give me a “realistic” idea of what this looks like on a woman’s body. I so much prefer readers pics. Please, healthy models only.

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